Towards a Geography of Fiction

It all starts with the supposedly simple questions: Where is literature set and why there? Europe offers an abundant wealth of fictionalised landscapes and cities. The nascent research area of literary geography / literary cartography aims at visibly rendering such complex overlays of real and fictional geographies.
Against this background that an interactive prototype of a »Literary Atlas of Europe« is currently under development at the Institute of Cartography and Geoinformation, ETH Zurich.

publications

Barbara Piatti, Anne-Kathrin Reuschel Dreams, Longings, Memories – Visualising the Dimension of Projected Spaces in Fiction ➔ Download at the bottom of the page Abstract: In fictional, narrated worlds (literature, movies, graphic novels etc.) so-called projected spaces can play an important role. They have different qualities than settings, since they are created and called up [...]

Anne-Kathrin Reuschel Modelling Uncertain Geodata for the Literary Atlas of Europe ➔ Download at the bottom of the page Abstract: Mapping literary spaces is an interdisciplinary challenge for both literary theory and cartographic realisation. The inherent properties of textual space compared to real-world geospace are introduced and discussed in relation to build a data model for [...]

Anne-Kathrin Reuschel A Literary Atlas of Europe. Mapping and Analysing the Geography of Fiction with Interactive Tools ➔ Download at the bottom of the page In connection with a presentation of the ongoing doctoral thesis of Anne-Kathrin Reuschel (which covers all technical and cartographical questions of the »Literary Atlas of Europe«) a poster has been [...]

POSTER SESSION

In connection with the presentations of the ongoing doctoral thesis of Anne-Kathrin Reuschel (which deals with all technical and cartographical questions of the »Literary Atlas of Europe«) a poster was prepared, that summarizes the atlas project.

Special Issue: The Cartographic Journal

»This special issue of the Cartographic Journal on
‘Cartographies of Fictional Worlds’ is made up of
fascinating stories, exotic places, original concepts, and a
series of media that ranges from artistic collages to high
tech geospatial applications. This diversity demonstrates
the enthusiasm that prevails within literary cartography, as
well as the complex relationships that exist between maps,
narratives and places.«
»These examples provide a conceptual, methodological
and practical base that can serve to engage in the
development of original and relevant ways of merging
the conceptual space of the map with the experiential
places of the narratives.«
Sébastien Caquard: Conclusive Remarks, S.224/225